Holl, Philipp Wilhelm

Politician, trade union official

Born: 15.08.1879 in Hömberg near Nassau Unterlahn

died: 06.12.1967 in Wiesbaden

Holl completed an apprenticeship as a painter and varnisher and then did his military service. From 1904-14, he was union secretary of the painters' and varnishers' association for Wiesbaden and the surrounding area. At the same time, he held honorary positions, e.g. as a caretaker for the poor, as an assessor at the insurance office and at the employment office. In 1912, he was one of the founders of the "Touristenverein(s) Die Naturfreunde".

During the First World War, he was at the front for six months, spent several months in hospital and finally worked in the medical service. From 1915 onwards, he headed the Red Cross welfare office for war invalids and survivors in Wiesbaden, which he also headed for the city after the end of the war.

He joined the SPD before 1918, for which he sat on the Wiesbaden City Council from 1919 - initially as an unsalaried councillor - and in a salaried position from 1930-33. At the end of 1922, he was the leading force behind the founding of the Wiesbaden local committee of the Workers' Welfare Association (AWO) and its chairman until it was forcibly dissolved by the National Socialists in 1933. In 1923, his commitment against separatism earned him expulsion by the French occupying forces. From 1926-32 he was a member of the Nassau local parliament. Expelled from office on March 9, 1933, he was subjected to persecution and hardship during the Nazi era and was imprisoned for a time. Nevertheless, he maintained contact with his former political companions.

After the end of the war, he held office as mayor from July 24, 1945 to July 13, 1948. He was also involved in the reconstruction of the AWO, which made him its honorary chairman on the occasion of his 75th birthday and named its first post-war kindergarten in Gabelsbergerstraße after him.

For his services, Holl was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Wiesbaden and the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. A street in Wiesbaden commemorates the politician. Holl is buried in the South Cemetery.